Chetan and Gill battle it out at Rally of Arunachal
ITANAGAR, Dec 15: The scenic city of Itanagar will reverberate with the sound of roaring cars as the much awaited Rally of Arunachal, round 1 of Champions Yacht Club Indian National Rally Championship, powered by MRF Tyres gets underway here on Wednesday. The Rally of Arunachal which is making a comeback after a year’s gap will be seen in a bigger avatar with a record number of 43 cars lining up for glory including the country’s top rally drivers. While the tarmac surface on which the entire rally would run will make it a level playing field for all the drivers, the cynosure of all eyes will be the battle between defending champion Chetan Shivram and Gaurav Gill. Chetan was the one who ended Gaurav’s streak last year and will be eager to kick-start his title defence on a high note. The Kerala driver who has been snapped up by Yokohama for this year will be driving with a new co-driver Rupesh Kholay. India’s only Arjuna awardee in motorsports and multiple times INRC champion Gaurav (&co-driver Musa Sherif) had an uneventful last season and will look to begin the year with a bang. The Rally of Arunachal will see the teams fight it out over a total distance of 178.32 kms, with as many as 108 kms earmarked for four special stages over two days including two night stages which will provide the drivers as well as the spectators’ ample opportunity for fun. (UNI)
Aashi Hanspal creates a record; grabs two podium finishes
DUBAI, Dec 15: Mumbai’s rising kart racing star Aashi Hanspal created a record of sorts by taking part in the prestigious 24-Hour Dubai Endurance Karting Championship in Dubai’s Motorcity over the weekend, while also clinching two podium places along with her teammates in the Overall Championship. Fourteen-year-old Aashi, a Grade 9 student from Bombay Scottish School, became the only Indian girl to compete in this World Series event. Thanks to her team EBC Brakes’ brilliant run in the previous three rounds, she also finished on the podium twice. The all-Indian team, featuring Arjun Manjunath (Bangalore), Rachit Singhal (Delhi), Jamie (Mumbai), Aditya Swaminathan (Bangalore) and Aashi, grabbed the second position in the Overall Championship as well as the first position in the Nations Cup. Aashi, who was chosen for the Outstanding Women in Motorsports Award by FMSCI in 2019, had also become the only Indian girl to take part in the FIA Girls on Track ‘Rising Stars’ initiative in France earlier in October 2020. FMSCI Women in Motorsports Commission Chairperson Mrs Sita Raina congratulated Aashi on her successful run in the Dubai Endurance event. The annual Dubai Endurance Championship consists of 4 rounds, with the last one being the 24-Hour Championship held this weekend in Dubai. In Round 1, teams raced against each other for 400 laps, in Round 2 for 6 hours non-stop and in Round 3 for 12 hours non-stop. (UNI)
‘NFL won’t be cutting in line for COVID-19 vaccine’
WASHINGTON, Dec 15: The NFL won’t be cutting in line to get the coronavirus vaccine. “No one should be thinking about the vaccine going anywhere other than our first responders and the most vulnerable people right now,” said DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFL Players Association. The largest vaccination campaign in U.S. history got underway Monday with health workers rolling up their sleeves for the first shots on the same day the nation’s COVID-19 death toll hit a staggering 300,000. High-risk health care workers and some nursing home residents were among the first in line for the shots that could finally conquer the outbreak that has upended life across the globe. While the U.S. hopes for enough of the two approved vaccines to vaccinate 20 million people by the end of the month, and 30 million more in January, there won’t be enough for the average person to get a shot until spring. The NFL will continue spending millions of dollars on daily COVID-19 tests, combined with social distancing and contact tracing to mitigate infections so they can get all 256 regular season games and 13 playoff contests in the books culminating in Super Bowl 55 on Feb. 7 in Tampa, Florida. On a recent media conference call, Smith and NFLPA president JC Tretter emphasized that football doesn’t deserve any favors or special treatment when it comes to COVID-19 inoculations. “Football is not an essential business,” Smith said. (AP)